Dec 3 November 2017 books

I am so full of admiration for this series, even if, in this book at least, I wasn't always completely along for the ride. The middle of this book struggles with pacing issues, and in a 470-page book, "middle" is a not insignificant chunk of the story, plot, and action. Like, we GET it. Radu is secretly in love with Mehmed. Lada is a conflicted bada**. I maybe didn't need 200 pages of that, you know? I also wished that Constantinople had come alive a bit more. I have literally been to that city and I still had a hard time picturing the scenes there, as they were written in this book.

Despite these deficiencies, when this book gets going, it gets GOING, and it takes no prisoners. There's this scene toward the end with Lada in a room full of mansplainers and she's trying to address them but she's small and her voice is not naturally loud and the room is echoey and she's a woman so nobody is listening. And so (for these and other, more stateswomanlike reasons) (view spoiler)[SHE MURDERS THEM ALL (hide spoiler)]. I totally understand the grand plot reasons for this decision, but also, ladies, we have ALL been Lada in a moment like that, am I right?!?!

4.5 stars right after reading it, down to 3.5 stars the day after (as I write this). I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, but now that it's over, there are a dozen little "huh?"s vying for attention in my brain. Oh well. Female Sherlock Holmes is so much fun!